East & South East Cyclo-Cross Championships

The Day started out as a fairly cold but not too cold December’s day, certainly not as cold as it has been lately. It’s been a while since I went out photographing a bike race and my first experience of a Cyclo-Cross race.

I get to the venue with 30 minutes or so to spare, nice to see all the kids getting excited and nervously waiting for the start. Great to see so many getting into the sport and racing.

The first race gets going on time at 11:00hrs, get some shots of the start line and move on around the track to find an interesting spot for some images. First stop was a pair of nasty wet looking logs across the track to negotiate. I was surprised to see how quickly these kids were negotiating this obstacle, I know full well had I been doing it I'd have tripped and fallen :-s

By the time I had decided to move onto the next spot the kids had finished and the rather than dragging myself and all my equipment to the start line I stayed in the woods waiting for the next race, the under 12’s. Again surprised at the commitment these young kids were showing when attacking obstacles I used to be put off by.

After the kids race was biggest for different categories, Junior Men, Vet 40-49, Vet 50+ and Women. All these people racing at once meant for many photo opportunities and possible missed opportunities. I didn’t want to stay in the woods (a decision I may come to regret later..) and get the same shots for this race so venture out into the field to change my perspective. After all the races and practice laps combined with the recent weather we’ve experienced the track had become quite muddy. I placed myself at the top of an incline which was probably the biggest thing you could call a hill for today’s course and snapped away.

After this race and a little bit of moving around on the open field and not being able to feel my toes I decide it’s time to try and get a bit of shelter. This is when I found a spot that gave some of the best pictures of the day with a great spot (see below).

ooopppss

For the final race of the day, Senior Men, I move around between the field and the woods again. Now please go have a look at the rest of the images in the gallery for the day CLICK HERE.